The present invention relates to a resulfurized, chromium-nickel austenitic stainless steel having improved free-machining characteristics. Austenitic stainless steels are used in a variety of fabricating and finishing operations, many of which include machining. Consequently, the machinability of the steel, especially for bar products, is an important characteristic.
It is known that elements such as sulfur, selenium, tellurium, bismuth, lead, and phosphorus when added to austenitic stainless steels result in improved machinability. It is also known that by maintaining relatively high manganese-to-sulfur ratios in austenitic stainless steels machinability may be further enhanced. Improved machinability results with high manganese-to-sulfur ratios by the formation of relatively soft manganese-rich sulfides. The extent to which machinability may be improved by the addition of manganese and sulfur is limited because at sulfur contents in excess of about 0.45%, the corrosion resistance of the steel is adversely affected and the appearance of the resulting machined surface is often degraded.